Who were the people who signed the document Americans celebrate on July 4th? A small part of that question is answered in this episode. An introduction to the Declaration of Independence, its importance in American history and the history of the American Revolution, makes up the bulk of this first podcast episode. Facts that many Americans would get wrong (though not a sizable amount of history buffs). Did we need a Declaration to have independence? When was it written? When was it approved? and When was it signed? Any look at the Signers of the Declaration of Independence should begin with those well known signers, but instead we start with some of the least known. John Hart, Thomas Nelson, Richard Henry Lee and Richard Stockton are featured, among others.

Everyone knows Jefferson. But who is Button Gwinnett? William Hooper? or Joseph Hewes? this episode discusses the signers from south of Virginia who made an important contribution and sacrifices oft forgotten. From the merchant with a divided mind, to the carpenter who worked his way up to a congressman, to the man lost at sea, we look at these southern Signers and the role of the states of Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Were the signers all rich men? Could it be said, as it has, that they were they looking out for their own? We look at these questions in this episode. As we examine some of the richest founders Robert Morris, William Paca, Carter Braxton, Thomas Nelson, Charles Carroll of Carrollton and Francis Lightfoot Lee, we find that the topic is more complex than the cursory discussions in many sources.

Though the vote for independence occurred on July 2nd, we celebrate the day of printing and publication. we look at the claim of both days and the role of the state that didn't vote on July 2nd: New York. And we take a look at its delegates: Philip Livingston, William Floyd, Francis Lewis and Lewis Morris, who eventually signed the Declaration and suffered loss of property when the British took New York.

No unease about Independence in this colony. Rhode Island, formed in dissent and the anchor of religious tolerance in America, was a bastion of Patriot activity. We talk about two Signers: William Ellery who invoked the "Sword." in his discussions about reconciliation and the shaky-handed but fearless Stephen Hopkins.

Ben Franklin would have been a busy, hard working printer and not a distinguished member of the Continental Congress had he not come up with a best-selling book that allowed him, eventually, to retire. Franklin was a key independence advocate in a conservative state that generally wanted to stay with Britain, his absence might have made history very different. A bit about Poor Richard's Almanack some passages which have some modern wisdom, and a bit about Franklin's early life.

William Whipple is not the best known signer. It is only in recent years that this son of New Hampshire is even getting a fitting marker for his grave. In this episode, he is honored for his military service, his strong belief in the American revolutionary cause, and his tree of liberty. He was an ambitious man, who at 23 commanded his own ship. And a complex man - a former slave runner who freed his own slave. Unlike his fellow state signer Bartlett, he's had no famous TV character named for him.

Hailing from the same state as Adams and Hancock doesn't help to get you noticed, or so it appears with these two Signers important in their time but less known now. One became a Federalist, the other a Republican, but they both were signers working on the same cause in 1776. We wrap up the Massachusetts signers with these two important, if upstaged, figures for the cause. One found his calling in the letters but would lose a key case to another signer, the other would end up being best known for an unpopular but effective political tactic still used and named for him today.

James Wilson is often seen as the swing vote on independence. Without his vote, and John Morton's Pennsylvania would have went against Independence, severing the union of states needed to take on British rule. Yet there were really four swing votes, as we discuss. We also look at the radical coffee house dwellers who helped stir up a crowd, the military coup that played a role in Pennsylvania's vote. We also look at the Non-Signer John Dickinson and how despite his failure to sign the document, supported the new nation in other ways.

We know Ben Franklin as a printer and a Founder - but what about his role as a military man? Short-lived, but it was probably what catapulted him to enough prominence to represent his colony in the Continental Congress and in London as America's representative prior to Independence. Pennsylvania is highlighted in this cast and we look at some other less-known Signers, including the ironmaster George Taylor and the militia man James Smith.

Could he be the most famous alternate in all of history? Thomas Jefferson was not on the first list to be a delegate to Philadelphia representing his state. But its good that he was, because John Adams and Doctor Franklin found him to be the best writer for the independence document. But that's something that seems to have occured to this young man throughout his life - he met the right people. We know so much about what happened to Jefferson after he wrote 'In the course of human events..." but how about the younger Thomas Jefferson. We discuss this. in this episode.. We also discuss Benjamin Harrison and George Wythe, a Signer who was very famous at the time of the signing and may have been poisoned by a jealous nephew.